“Shares of Apple (AAPL) are up as the Street offers up a fairly warm review of the company’s refresh of the iPad lineup at a media event in San Francisco yesterday, which was accompanied by updates as well of the MacBook Pro line of laptops, the announcement Apple’s software will be given away for free, and disclosure of pricing for the new Mac Pro,” Tiernan Ray reports for Barron’s.
“Analysts today are not only reviewing the announcement but also looking forward to the fiscal Q4 report next Monday, October 28th, after the closing bell,” Ray reports. “Analysts have been modeling $36.83 billion in revenue and $7.91 per share in net profit, though some are forecasting a beat given that Apple said last month it was expecting results at the upper end of its forecast.”
Ray reports, “‘We surmise part of the higher iPad ASPs relates to the inclusion of previously a la carte software, such as iWork and iLife,’ writes UBS’s Steve Milunovich. ‘In our view, Apple’s new approach of including its software for free in all new devices should help to maintain premium pricing and is another step in software / vertical integration coming full-circle.'”
Much more in the full article here.